Western Downs mother praises LifeFlight in wake of quad bike crash

After a horror accident all this mother could do was think of her children.

Jacqui Rich with her son after LifeFlight saved her life

As a LifeFlight helicopter rocketed across the sky and paramedics frantically pumped blood, Jacqui Rich thought about her kids.

“I thought it was the end,” she said.

“It was so loud in there, it sounded like a roar, I remember asking the paramedics ‘am I going to die?’ They didn't answer and I thought to myself, ‘this isn't good’.”

Just an hour earlier, Ms Rich had rolled her quad bike at her Wandoan cattle station rupturing her spleen and shattering four ribs.

It was a hot February day in the middle of mustering season when about 3.30pm Ms Rich hopped on the bike to head towards the cattle yard and grab a pen to mark ear tags.

Taking the corner a little too tight Ms Rich was flung off the bike coming down hard on her left side.

Jacqui Rich with her family after LifeFlight saved her life

Laying in the dirt she reached for her phone and dialled her husband.

“I told him to phone an ambulance because I was feeling pretty bad,” she said.

“We live about 20 minutes from the nearest hospital and from the time we’d called triple-0 to the time we met the ambulance out the front it was 17 minutes, the response time was amazing.

“The paramedics instantly knew something was very wrong, she kept saying my blood pressure was just bottoming out, my pulse was OK, but my blood pressure was just nothing and I kept complaining of pain in my left side.

“The whole time I was in and out of consciousness, I remember most of it, but I was coming in and out of awareness, and the paramedic really pushed for LifeFlight to come out.”

Ms Rich was rushed to the Wandoan Airstrip, meeting an aircraft which had flown in from Toowoomba with critical care doctor Christopher Jarvis immediately issuing an ultrasound.

“I remember him saying she needs a surgeon now and I thought to myself ‘that’s not good’.

“I couldn’t see, I knew my eyes were open, but there was nothing, but I could still hear everything. They were asking if there a surgeon in Roma, but there wasn’t and time was of the essence so they made the decision to go to Toowoomba.

“They carry four units of blood and they started administering that to me, I had ruptured my spleen and broken four ribs, but because I had vasoconstriction because of the internal bleeding they were finding it quite difficult.

“They ended up using a larger needle through my leg vein and were squeezing it in to get my blood pressure back.

“They were worried they weren't going to make it so they made a hot drop in Dalby for two more units of blood, they phoned ahead, came into Dalby, didn't switch anything off, grabbed the units then kept going.

“As they put the blood in I started to feel better and I could feel the paramedics relax.”

Jacqui Rich's CT scan

After landing at Toowoomba Hospital Ms Rich was taken for a CT scan before being taken into surgery.

“In my abdominal cavity they took out 2.5 litres of blood and the human body only carries 5 litres so half my blood volume was in my abdominal cavity,” she said.

“The care I received there was second to none.”

Ms Rich would spend the next week in hospital being treated by surgical teams, physios and social workers helping to get her back on her feet.

Critical care doctor Christopher Jarvis would later admit it was touch and go.

“I used an ultrasound probe to scan her stomach and that showed there was a lot of free fluid, and that’s almost always blood,” Dr Jarvis said.

“She was very pale and when I checked her blood pressure it was low. Seeing that free fluid in her tummy meant an intra-abdominal bleed which is a job for hospital surgeons.

“I thought she was going to die.

“I was nervous the whole way that we were going to lose her. She looked terrible, and we were a long way from a surgeon. We were pumping the blood into her during the flight, and her blood pressure was still very low when we landed at Toowoomba Hospital.”

Dr Chris Jarvis was one of the medical professionals who helped saved Jacqui Rich's life

When Dr Jarvis called in to see Ms Rich the following day she burst into tears upon seeing him.

“I was really pleased Jacqui made it,” Dr Jarvis said.

“Seeing her looking so well was great. It was a real team effort to save her. That’s the best part of the job, when you know we can make a difference.”

Ms Rich thanked everyone who had saved her life.

“From the paramedics and the work she did to LifeFlight to the Toowoomba Base Hospital and how professional they were I had the absolute gold standard care,” she said.

“I know I was very unlucky with what happened, but I was so lucky to get the care I received.”

Ms Rich is now running a Christmas campaign to encourage people to donate to LifeFlight as well as donating blood which was vital in saving her life.

“I needed the blood of strangers to save my life,” Jacqui said.

“I have eight strangers I will never meet that I have to thank for being alive, because of those individuals I am here.

“LifeFlight gave me the greatest gift of all, allowing me to continue my wonderful life, loving my family, without them my kids wouldn’t have a mother and Christian wouldn't have a wife.”

Ms Rich will hold a stall at the Wandoan Christmas Carnival on December 13 fundraising for LifeFlight and Red Cross.

Donations can be made here.